Comparing GPS-Based Community Mobility Measures with Self-report Assessments in Older Adults with Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

Background Real-life community mobility (CM) measures for older adults, especially those with Parkinson’s disease (PD), are important tools when helping individuals maintain optimal function and quality of life. This is one of the first studies to compare an objective global positioning system (GPS) sensor and subjective self-report CM measures in an older clinical population. Methods Over 14 days, 54 people in Ontario, Canada with early to mid-stage PD (mean age = 67.5 ± 6.3 years; 47 men; 46 retired) wore a wireless inertial measurement unit with GPS (WIMU-GPS), and completed the Life Space Assessment and mobility diaries. We assessed the convergent validity, reliability and agreement on mobility outcomes using Spearman’s correlation, intraclass correlation coefficient, and Bland-Altman analyses, respectively. Results Convergent validity was attained by the WIMU-GPS for trip frequency (rs = .69, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.52–0.81) and duration outside (rs = .43, 95% CI = 0.18–0.62), but not for life space size (rs = .39, 95% CI = 0.14–0.60). The Life Space Assessment exhibited floor and ceiling effects. Moderate agreements were observed between WIMU-GPS and diary for trip frequency and duration (intraclass correlation coefficients = 0.71, 95% CI = 0.51–0.82; 0.67, 95% CI = 0.42–0.82, respectively). Disagreement was more common among nonretired individuals. Conclusions WIMU-GPS could replace diaries for trip frequency and duration assessments in older adults with PD. Both assessments are best used for retired persons. However, the Life Space Assessment may not reflect actual mobility.

Lifespace metrics of older adults with mild cognitive impairment and dementia recorded via geolocation data

“…There is growing consensus that self-reported lifespace may differ from what is collected passively using technology (eg Refs. 3,20). More detailed explorations of the nature of these differences and comparison of concurrent passive and self-report measures are needed.…”

The development and validation of a prototype mobility tracker for assessing the life space mobility and activity participation of older adults

“…Parametric data were reported as mean and standard deviation, whilst non-parametric data were reported as median and range. Convergent validity was assessed between objective and subjective measures of life space and activity participation, using bivariate correlations between the UAB-LSA Total score (LSA Total) and maximum Euclidean distance from home (Max Euclid), between LSA Total and the area of the minimum convex polygon surrounding all GPS waypoints (MCP area), and between the number of activity nodes detected from the mobility tracker and the number of activities recorded in the travel diary [ 14 , 15 ]. Non-parametric Spearman rank correlation was used as variables were not normally distributed using Shapiro-Wilk test [ 15 , 27 ].…”

“…The paper describes the development of the prototype hybrid mobility tracker and systematically compares objective data from the tracker to self-reported measures to assess its validity and reliability in measuring life-space mobility and out-of-home activities in community-dwelling older adults. Convergent validity was established from bivariate correlations between objective measures of life-space mobility and out-of-home activities obtained from the mobility tracker, and subjective data obtained from the self-reported University of Alabama at Birmingham Study of Aging Life Space Assessment (UAB-LSA) [1,2] and travel diaries [14,15]. We also present a case study of using the tracker for 1 week in an older adult without dementia to demonstrate the tracker's feasibility and validity.…”

Modernizing Daily Function Assessment in Parkinson's Disease Using Capacity, Perception, and Performance Measures

“…We then need to evaluate how they relate to each other and in which way they independently and collectively provide insights into daily function. This viewpoint will use PD as a disease model, because the differences between the capacity, perception, and performance assessments and the associations between daily function 4,16 (especially mobility [17][18][19] ) and quality of life 2 have already been investigated.…”